Handicrafts exports shrink 26% in May

India's handicrafts exports contracted 26 per cent in May at $125 million compared to that in the same month last fiscal, but exporters expressed hope that the worst is probably over.

According to data available with the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), art metalware exports declined 29 per cent during May, imitation jewellery 24 per cent, embroidery and crocheted goods 27 per cent. Handicrafts exports in the same month last year stood at $172 million.

"There is still a decline but we have been able to arrest it to a certain extent," EPCH Executive Director Rakesh Kumar told PTI.

Handicrafts exporters are confident that happy days aren't too far with fresh enquiries beginning to pour in from the major markets of the US and EU, one of the worst sufferers of the economic meltdown.

He said, "Since inventories of the old stock are getting over, we are getting fresh orders from the EU and the US...And that is reflecting in the export numbers."

Reeling under the heat of the global economic slowdown, handicrafts exporters saw demand for items like metalware, imitation jewellery, wooden items and wall hangings dried up by 48 per cent in 2008-09, rendering jobless about five lakh of its six million artisans.
 
Exports were down over 70 per cent in March this year. However, exports declined 22 per cent in April this year.